


Lonely Dance

by NateTheWolf



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Character Death, Dark Doctor-ish, F/F, Inspired by Music, Weapons, alien war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2020-06-24 09:14:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19720684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NateTheWolf/pseuds/NateTheWolf
Summary: The Doctor has an earworm, and amongst the occasional humming and dancing, decides going into an alien war zone is the right idea.Loosely based off of Set It Off's song Lonely Dance





	1. One Step Forward

Yaz had gotten into the TARDIS before anyone, eager to go on another adventure after a rather mundane week at work. When she arrived, she looked around the console room, expecting to see the Doctor tinkering beneath it again, but she wasn’t. Confused, she looked around for any indication she was there at all. Soon enough, the Doctor came into view, a spring in her step, humming. 

“Oh, hey Yaz!” she grinned as she got to the console. “Early?” 

“Yeah,” Yaz walked up to her, noticing she was already pressing buttons. “What do they do?” 

“Just keeps her in check,” the blonde shrugged as she patted the edge of the console. There was a moment of silence as she twisted a few objects quickly, as if she was in a rush, and pressed a few buttons. Slowing down, not looking up from the console, she broke the silence. “Waiting for the boys then?” 

“Yup.” 

“Hmm.” 

“Are you okay Doctor?” Yaz asked tentatively, stepping closer when she stepped away to press a blue button. 

“Yeah,” she turned to her and smiled. It was a rather quick response, as if she had it rehearsed. She skipped over to the other side to pull at a small leaver, humming a tune. As her friend watched, she noticed it was almost as if she was dancing around the room. 

“What song?” 

“Huh?” the Doctor stopped what she was doing, giving her full attention to her. 

“You’re humming and dancing Doctor-” 

“Was I?” she straightened up. After a confirming nod, she shrugged. “Must be an earworm then. So, when will they be here?” 

“Shouldn’t be long,” Yaz shrugged as she leant on a crystal pillar. “Ryan said something about tea.” 

“Tea tea or dinner tea?” 

“Dinner tea,” she laughed slightly, and then raised a brow at the still bouncing blonde. “Does that matter?” 

“Well,” she started as she zoomed around the console, pulling the leaver. “If it’s tea tea they won’t be long and could be anywhere, whereas if it’s dinner then there’s a very high chance that they’re at home and will take more than a minute or so.” 

“So you wanted to know if there was a point to dropping in their house again?” Yaz giggled as the TARDIS shook, making her stumble into the console. 

“Maybe yeah,” the Doctor grinned. “I hope I don’t break any chairs again...” 

“Yeah, Graham will go mental,” she laughed once the machine materialized. 

“Who will go mental?” Ryan asked as he popped his head through the doors. 

“I swear if you’ve broke any of my bloody chairs again!” they heard Graham shout as he assumingly walked into the room. Ryan snickered as well as Yaz when he figured out who she was talking about. He opened the door fully for them to see Graham looking around the TARDIS, and then sighing. “You didn’t Doc.” 

“Ten points to the Doctor,” Ryan grinned as he stepped in. 

“Points?” she titled her head. 

“It’s what you do all the time Doc,” Graham said as he closed the door and walked over to the console. “You give us points when we do something helpful or impressive.” 

“Oh,” she nodded slowly as she pressed a blue button. “I forgot about that.” 

“Are you sure you’re okay Doctor?” Yaz asked, concern evident in her features. 

“Peachy,” the blonde hopped up, going back to dancing around the console, earning questioning glares from the boys. Yaz mouthed 'earworm' that made then understand. The Doctor came to a halt at the screen and squinted at it. “Sometimes the world is way too loud.” 

There was a pause between the companions, each not knowing how to respond. After some staring, they all silently agreed that Graham would step forward. 

“How is it-“ 

Alarms started blaring out. The companions all jumped and covered their ears, whereas the Doctor rushed over to the other end of the console, wincing slightly at the noise. She ran back to the screen and flicked a few switches before the alarms silenced. 

“What was that?!” Yaz almost shouted as she regained her composure. 

“Distress alarm.” 

“Distress what?” Graham winced, assumingly still hearing the ringing noise from the alarm. 

“Distress alarm,” the Doctor grinned. “Someone out there needs our help!” 

“I thought your alarms were just a blip on the screen?” Yaz raised a brow, crossing her arms. 

“I changed them. I would miss them otherwise,” she shrugged. “Anyway, better take a look at the details…” 

As the blonde read, Yaz waltzed over to Graham and Ryan. “Well that was… Loud…” 

“Reckon she forgot that that can make humans go deaf?” Ryan asked. 

“Probably,” she turned back to the alien, seeing her mouth words as she read. “She can be oblivious to things, maybe it was an honest mistake?” 

“Okay!” the Doctor clasped her hands together. “Ryan, remember when you had that gun and I said no weapons on the alien planet?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Well, we're going to need weapons for this,” she grinned. “We got a distress call from Trinity Zergo 16. The Gylo's have attacked and they’re the shoot first type of people.” 

“We’re going to go to a war zone?” Graham asked, bewildered. 

“Well, not a war zone per say,” the Doctor shrugged as she picked up something from under the console. “These are communicators,” she gestured to the four black watch like straps. “They will tell us if anything happens to us.” 

“And that anything is?” Graham prompted, crossing his arms. He clearly didn’t like the ambiguity of the situation. 

“Hmm,” she paused, looking up as she thought. “Maybe you shouldn’t go, might be dangerous.” 

“Well, we can’t let you go in alone,” Yaz crossed her arms. “We can be in teams yeah? We won’t be alone then.” 

“Yeah!” the blonde beamed as she skipped over to her friends. “We can keep in touch with these, just press the red button. And if any of us get injured – which I hope we don’t, we just have to be extra careful – it sends a signal.” 

“It’s not going to be some alarm that hurts our ears and gives away our position is it?” Ryan grabbed a communicator and strapped it onto his wrist. 

“No, no,” the Doctor handed the remaining communicators to Yaz and Graham before putting one on herself. “It just has three buzzes, like if a phone is on silent in your pocket.” 

“Right,” Graham nodded as he put his on. “And these weapons? And violent alien race?” 

“Yes!” she twirled around and headed down a corridor, the skip back in her step. Moments later she came back with a backpack – assumingly bigger on the inside – with four guns. They were black with a golden line etched into the length of the base, the trigger grey. She got one out to show everyone, finger immediately on the trigger, as if she was accustomed to it. “These are kinda like laser rifles, I guess? You press and hold the trigger to charge, and let go to fire. If you want it charged before the enemy spots you or you spot it, then you just keep it on the trigger, but if you don’t want to actually fire just keep hold of it.” 

“When did you, miss ‘I don’t use weapons’ use these?” Ryan asked as he grabbed one out of the bag, weighing it in his hand. 

“When, why, and how did you get these?” Yaz asked as she took one, looking it over. She noticed how the Doctor smiled at the one she held, as if she were admiring it like one would a jewel. 

“Hozard Fish,” the Doctor shrugged. “I helped them save their prince and they thanked me with weapons and cake – very confusing race when it comes to customs.” 

“You just happened to have them out and about in case a situation like this happens?” Graham asked as he cautiously looked in the bag. He sighed and picked out the last one. “And exactly four too?” 

“What’s with the third-degree guys?” she groaned, throwing her hands in the air, finger still on the trigger, although luckily not pressing it. “I was with Amy, Rory and River at the time. And I kept all of them ‘cause I knew River couldn’t be trusted with it and they couldn’t be on Earth.” 

“Okay, questions on that later,” Ryan said as he pressed the trigger, the gold on the weapon gradually started to glow as a quiet humming noise was heard. “So I let go to shoot, and wait for it to fade if I don’t want to shoot?” 

“Yup!” 

“How much damage does it do?” 

“Depends on where you shoot,” she shrugged. “You can let go now, by the way.” 

He looked at the weapon and did so, impressed when he noticed the light had faded. “Cool.” 

“What ‘bout these aliens then?” Graham asked as he held the gun loosely in his hand, still rather uneasy about having to use it. 

“Gylo’s, right. Well, they actually don’t make any noises, even when they move so, like I said, they’re more shoot first, not ask questions later. We’ll need to be on guard and look out for any injured and be ready to shoot at all times,” she sighed, and then turned to the police officer of the group. “I’m sure you’ve used a gun before, right?” 

“Well, only fake bullets at the range,” she shrugged, finally getting used to the weight of the weapon, yet surprisingly quicker than she’d hoped. “Not these though.” 

“Right, well why don’t you and I go one way,” the Doctor paused. She tapped her foot three times before handing her weapon over to Yaz and rushing off to press a few buttons on the console. “Wherever we land we should have two ways. You and I go one, Ryan and Graham go the other. Sound good?” 

“Yeah sure, why not?” Graham sighed. 

“Communicators on?” she checked everyone’s wrists after pulling the leaver, making the TARDIS travel to the desired destination. Once she made sure they were all on and working, she took the weapon from Yaz. “Okay, I’ll go out first, check the coast is clear, then we’ll split up. That good?” 

They all nodded, unsure of what else they could say. 

“Great!” the Doctor grinned as she waltzed out the door, making sure to shut it behind her. 

It was silent. None of the humans wanted to speak, knowing they’d have to be on alert in case they suddenly heard shooting. Impatient and anxious for her friend’s well-being, Yaz sighed and skipped over to the door, her head lightly pressed against it to listen out for any talking. She heard the Doctor’s muffled mumbling before the door opened and a hand grabbed her wrist, dragging her out of the TARDIS. 

“Yaz, great, just the hand I wanted to grab,” the Doctor grinned goofily as she swung her gun over her shoulder idly. “Coast is clear, though I heard some commotion coming down the halls. So we go to the left and the boys go to the right?” 

“Y-Yeah, sure,” Yaz agreed in a dazed state, a little stunned by the silver walls and silent red alarm flashing around the station. It was as if it was out of a sci-fi movie, only more surreal and less casualties from where they could see. 

“Doc, a bit of a warning next time, yeah?” Graham said as he walked out with Ryan tailing behind him. 

“For a war zone you’d think there’d be more noise,” Ryan noted as he looked around. 

“You’d think,” the Doctor twirled around, facing the long corridor where she wanted the boys to go. “This is the quieter part of the station because... Well, nobody is needed here. See the red on the walls? That’s not because of the alarms.”

Yaz recoiled, and made a mental note to not touch the walls. As she mentally prepared for possibly shooting at a deadly alien race, the Doctor explained her plan to them. From what Yaz heard they were to meet up either at the other end of the station, but if anything happened to return to the TARDIS, seeing as she’ll protect them. They all agreed, and braced themselves as they went their separate ways.

About thirty minutes into the corridor, separated from Graham and Ryan, the Doctor started to hum, and occasionally skip her step, her gun falling to her side. During, what she could only assume was the chorus of the song, she would be more open with her ‘subtle’ dancing, swinging her arms out and stepping backwards twice and then forwards. It would be cute in any other situation. However, Yaz was tense, and getting more and more aggravated by the blonde by the second.

“Are you sure you’re okay Doctor?”

“Yeah, why?” she stopped in her tracks, hands gripped onto the weapon tightly, and then she eased her grip, as if it was a twitch. Luckily, the trigger wasn’t pressed.

“You’re humming in a deadly situation, it’s not like you,” Yaz said warily, eyeing the trigger.

“I am?”

“You seriously don’t hear when you’re humming?” she whispered harshly.

“No, I seriously don’t,” she growled. “I’m sorry that we’re in this ‘deadly’ situation, but if you can recall you lot didn’t have to come!”

“With you no matter what happens yeah?”

“Your choice not mine-”

“Doct-”

“Guys!” Ryan hissed through the coms making them go silent and stop in their tracks. 

“Doc, you said we needed to be quiet, and you two bickering like an old married couple through the coms isn’t helping any of us,” Graham said through gritted teeth. “For your own safety stop talking and for ours turn the coms on a setting where we can only hear you when we need to.”

“Surprisingly,” the Doctor tapped on her communicator. “He’s right.”

“Gee, thanks Doc,” they heard him scoff.

“How do we-”

The blonde grabbed Yaz’s wrist and tapped the temp mute ‘button’ on it. “There.”

“I could have done that myself,” she whispered, which only earned a shrug from her friend. It was odd, how the Doctor’s demeanor had changed from when she stepped into the TARDIS. There was something... Off with her. However, Graham was right, they needed to stop arguing if not for their friendship then their safety, and she knew how stubborn the blonde could get. “Thanks though.”

“No problem,” she merely grumbled as she gripped onto her weapon and carried on walking ahead.

Yaz rolled her eyes and followed her, not bothering to start another conversation. Maybe her hostility was because how dire the situation was? She had said about losing friends before, and feeling responsible. It was hard to be annoyed with the Doctor knowing what she’s been through, however little that may be. Sighing, she stayed right behind her, staying alert for any movement or sound.

Meanwhile, Ryan and Graham were having a talk of their own.

“Old married couple? Really?” Ryan attempted to hold back laughter.

“Yeah?” Graham raised a brow. “They sure do act like it sometimes, even in this predicament. Keep your eyes peeled yeah?”

“What? You’re  gonna be the ears?”

“Well they are apparently silent so-”

Ryan’s communicator buzzed three times. He stopped in his tracks, silently praying that it was a fluke, that nobody was actually hurt, or at the very least it was a minor injury. Seconds later Graham’s speaker crackled to life, the Doctor’s panicked, almost hyperventilating voice breaking the ongoing silence.

“Guys! Come quick it’s  Yaz ... S-She's... She’s...”


	2. One Step Backwards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is quite a bit of blood in this chapter

When they reached the corridor, they saw the Doctor on her knees, her weapon discarded to the side. Yaz was propped up against the wall, head lolled to the side, legs straight on the floor. She looked unconscious. However, when they got closer, they noticed something. They noticed her tear stained face, her wide, unblinking eyes, and her limp, bleeding body.

She was dead.

The Doctor was crying loudly as she clung onto her body, head resting against her torso. It wasn’t until Ryan gasped that she knew they were there, and slowly, begrudgingly, lifted her head from the corpse. There was blood matted into her hair, dripping down her neck. It came from what looked like burnt part of Yaz’s torso, like it had been set alight, but had a whole in it where only one could assume a bullet made. Blood from the wound stained her favorite red jacket.

At least, it  _ was _ her favorite. 

“Doc,” Graham just about managed to say above a whisper, at a  loss for words. 

“T-They attacked her,” she cried, trembling hands reaching out for her friend in a futile effort to check for any sign of life. 

“Where are they now?” Ryan asked quietly, voice breaking at the end. He held onto his weapon, bracing himself for the silent aliens, his finger hovering over the trigger.

“I shot at them,” the blonde whispered, still not taking her eyes off of  Yaz .

“Kill any...” Scuttle of feet interrupted him, and he aimed his gun to the end of the corridor. “Thought they were silent?”

“We  sh -should go,” she said quickly as she stood up, grabbing her weapon from the floor. “They won’t do anything to her body, we c-can get her back after.”

“You sure?” Graham voiced his concerns, glancing between the noise, his grandson, and the corpse.

“No,” the Doctor burst out crying again and slumped down to the floor, gripping onto Yaz’s jacket.

The footsteps suddenly got louder, accompanied with an animalistic growl that echoed throughout the corridors. Ryan, out of instinct, backed away from the sound, lowering his weapon ever so slightly. He glanced down at the Doctor and his friend, eyes watering at seeing her like that. Sniffling, he blinked his tears away, looking back at the end of the corridor, and aimed the gun at the noise.

“Think we should go Doc,” Graham said as he grabbed onto her arm, attempting to pull her up.

“No,” she sobbed as she shook her head fervently, tightening her grip onto the jacket. 

“Ryan,” he muttered, glancing a pleading look at him. “We can’t.”

They all jumped at what sounded like a crash as a piece of scrap metal slid into view. Ryan slowly stepped back, staring at it as if it were a grenade. “We can’t leave her.”

“She wouldn’t want us to die,” the Doctor muttered, sniffling, wiping at her eyes. She stood up, keeping a tight grip on her weapon. “We need to leave.”

They exchanged a knowing look before glancing back at Yaz, now in a small puddle of her own blood. The smell of burnt flesh suddenly filled their senses, making Graham gag and stumble away. “Why d-didn-”

“The communicators,” the blonde motioned towards the black band on her wrist. “D-Didn’t want you to sme-”

A large growl interrupted her. They all jumped before backing away when a shadow appeared on the wall. The Doctor was the first to run. Surprisingly.

“Sorry Yaz,” Ryan whispered before he followed suit and dragged Graham with him.

* * *

They were hiding in an alcove, far away from the aliens, from Yaz. The lads caught their breath whereas the Doctor leant into the wall and started to hum, occasionally tapping her foot lightly on the floor. The blood had dried in her hair and made a few strands stiff like gel had been left there for days. Very little of it flaked off onto her coat when she tilted her head to the side.

“Some days I’m down,” she muttered, pausing when she tilted her head and looked up slightly, as if she were confused by the statement. “Sometimes my brain is locking me out...”

“What was that?” Ryan asked once he caught his breath.

“Hmm?” she looked at him as if he had two heads.

“You just,” he looked over her, noticing the blood once again, and remembered what he saw. Gulping, he looked away from her at the blank, flashing red, wall ahead of him. “Never mind.”

“Can’t believe this,” Graham sighed, wiping his face with his hands. “Poor Yasmin...”

“I’d rather pay no mind,” she muttered through gritted teeth as she pushed herself off the wall and staggered forward, idly swinging her arms.

“Doc what’s wron-”

“Really?” she scoffed, laughing almost hysterically for a moment as she twirled around, finger pressed on the trigger. “You really don’t know?”

“You’re acting strange Doc,” Graham said carefully, eyeing the trigger. He relaxed when the golden light of the weapon faded. “We just-”

“Out of the phony friends I don’t need,” she shook her head, letting the weapon fall at her side.

“What was that?” Ryan asked.

“Nothing,” the Doctor sighed and looked up at them. “Ryan can you get her? Meet us back at the TARDIS?”

“What about tho-”

“They’ll be gone by now,” she glanced around, hand tightening on the weapon. “You should be able to get her.”

“I,” he trailed off as he searched for the words. Ducking his head down like an ashamed puppy, he whispered; “I don’t want to go alone...”

“Don’t want to face her?” she asked, irritated, glaring at him. He gulped and nodded meekly. “Neither do I. I  _ can’t _ face her, Ryan. Please.”

“Fine,” he sighed, clutching onto the weapon like it was a lifeline. Cautiously, he took a few steps forward, clearly hesitant.

“Please Ryan,” the Doctor begged. “We can’t leave her here.”

“I know,” he whispered, voice cracking as he walked. “I know...”

He walked around the corner and headed back to their friend, and as soon as he was out of sight, the Doctor grabbed her sonic screwdriver from her pocket.

“He’s  gonna need this,” she muttered as she pressed the button, the whirring noise sounding louder amongst all the silence. Before Graham could question her reasoning, she told him to stay put and headed off after Ryan.

So, he did. He stayed put, leaning against the wall. Hidden from whatever those aliens were. The Doctor said they were silent and deadly, so what was growling and snarling at them? If the blonde lived how come Yasmin didn’t? She would always use her body as a shield from whatever creature they were up against, so why not this time? Was it too fast? Was she just too late? How did she come out of it unscathed?

His pondering thoughts were interrupted when he felt three buzzes on his wrist. Just like what happened when they got called for Yaz. His heart stopped. Or at least, felt like it did before adrenaline took over and he bolted down the corridor they had just come from. He was only half way down it when he saw Ryan on the floor, gun seemingly tossed aside by the wall furthest away from him.

The burning smell filled his senses once again. He gagged as he stumbled towards him and knelt down by his body.

“C’mon son,” he uttered, as he gently moved Ryan to face him. His eyes were closed, there were dark bruise like markings on his neck, and blood dripped from his chin. He stood up when he noticed the sonic fling across the hall, sliding along the cool metal floor. “Doc?”

“Graham.”

Her voice was off. It was a mixture of subdued and playful. Quite the contradiction. He turned around, just about to ask her what happened, why she couldn’t stop it,  _ how _ she kept surviving. However, all of the accusatory questions left his mind when he saw she had her gun aimed at him.

“I don’t understand,” Graham whispered, still in shock as he stared, wide eyed. He slowly raised his hands out of instinct when someone points a weapon at you. “Doc, what’s-”

“Don’t need you to understand,” she smirked, shaking her head slightly, as if she were mocking him for even saying the thought.

“You killed her then,” there was a catch in his throat, tears threatening to spill. “You-”

“Graham,” the Doctor tutted, finger now on the trigger. The weapon hummed to life as the glow gradually got brighter. “Can I just say...”

Pain. It erupted from his abdomen. With blurred vision he stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, clutching at his wound that now bled profusely. As he gasped, choking on his own blood, weakly clenching onto the burnt skin to slow the bleeding, he felt a burning sensation throughout his body. In every bone, every muscle, even in his blood. It was as if he was being burnt from the inside out. 

It was agony.

The Doctor leaned over him, an almost manic grin on her face as she saw the hurt on his. Flakes of blood dripped onto him from her hair. He couldn’t even wipe them off, all movement ceased by the excruciating pain. His vision became out of focus the more he tried to concentrate, the more he tried to fight slipping into unconsciousness. It wasn’t working. The last thing he heard, the only thing he heard in the eerily silent hallway, was her almost harrowingly gleeful voice before he fell.

“Some days the world is way too loud.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please listen to the song there are going to be snippets of it but unless you want spoilers do not watch the music video.


End file.
